In a continuing effort to improve the quality of shipping fruits, we, the inventors, typically hybridize a large number of peach, nectarine, plum, apricot, and cherry seedlings each year. We also grow a smaller number of open pollinated seeds of each of these fruits, usually to capture recessive traits. The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of cherry tree, which has been denominated varietally as ‘Glensweet I’.
During a typical blooming season we isolate as seed parents individual cherry trees by covering them with screen houses. A hive of bees is placed inside each such house, and bouquets to provide pollen from different cherry trees are placed in buckets near the trees approximately every two days for the duration of the bloom. During 2000 one such house containing ‘Glenred’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,859) cherry tree was crossed by us in this manner. To pollinate this cherry, we selected bouquets from several sources of cherry trees without keeping specific written details. Upon reaching maturity the fruit from this cherry tree was harvested and the seeds were removed, cracked, stratified and germinated as a group with the label ‘Cherry House’. They were grown as seedlings on their own root in our greenhouse, and upon reaching dormancy transplanted to a cultivated area of our experimental orchard located near Le Grand, Calif. in Merced County (San Joaquin Valley). During the summer of 2006 the claimed variety was selected by us as a single tree from the group of seedlings described above. Subsequent to origination of the present variety of cherry tree, we asexually reproduced it by budding and grafting in the experimental orchard described above, and such reproductions were true to the original tree in all respects. The reproduction of the variety included the use of ‘Colt’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 4,059) rootstock, upon which the present variety was compatible and true to type.
The present variety is similar to its seed parent, ‘Glenred’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,859) cherry, by having a vigorous tree, by blooming heavy, by being self-unfruitful, by having oval to reniform leaf glands, by being productive, and by producing medium to large cherries that are dark red in skin color, dark red in flesh color, semi-freestone in type, firm in texture, and fairly crack resistant, but is distinguished therefrom by blooming about three days later and by producing cherries that ripen about five days later, that are heart shaped instead of oblate, that are sub-acidic and sweeter in flavor, and that have a stronger stem attachment.
The present variety is most similar to ‘Glenheart’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 27,248) cherry, by having a medium size and vigorous tree, by blooming heavy in the early to mid season, by being self-unfruitful, by having oval to reniform leaf glands, by being productive, and by producing cherries that ripen in mid May that are medium to large in size, dark red in skin color, dark red in flesh color, firm in texture, and fairly crack resistant, but is distinguished therefrom by producing cherries that are heart shaped instead of oblate, that are semi-freestone instead of clingstone, that are much less acidic in flavor, and that have longer stems.